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"I'm setting myself up as a satirical comedian, going all in on real-life themes!""Then this 'Main and Supporting Characters' skit won't cut it… And 'Workplace Misadventures' needs at least three people to pull off!""Which means we're left with... 'Creative Excuses'!"
Kyle picked the skit on the spot.
Meanwhile, Mia burst into Kyle's room, all excited.
"Stop spacing out! The assistant director just called and said we can still go on stage and perform!"
"Heh, didn't you say there was no point going back again?"
Kyle teased her. Mia flipped her hair and grinned:
"Changing our minds is a woman's divine right. Don't tell me this is your first time hearing that?"
"Well, if you put it that way, I don't feel so bad. Actually, the director just called me too!"
"Wait, you said yes too?"
Mia looked like she just choked on a rice cake.
"Yup. I was just stressing about how to explain it to you—and then boom, you show up."
"Dang it, if I'd known you'd come around, I should've played it cool and let you ask me first!"
"Well, too late for that now. Since we're both in, let's take it a step further. Check this out—how's this sketch for us?"
Kyle handed over the script for "Creative Excuses."
Mia took one look, and her eyes went wide.
"This is gold! Seriously, this is even more straightforward than 'Thief Co. Ltd.'!"
"You like it too? Great! Let's strike while the iron's hot and do something purely hilarious!"
If "Thief Co. Ltd." was satire dressed in a costume, then "Creative Excuses" went right for the jugular, roasting things down to the smallest departments.
A few days later, at the Comedy Performer stage...
"Where are we? Have Kyle and Mia gone up yet?"
"Almost. Once this bit between the patient and the nurse wraps up, it's their turn."
"Jeez, what is this nonsense? You're trying to praise nurses by showing her working non-stop for a month—then giving the wrong meds to a patient? Hilarious."
"Right? If you know the context, it's clearly meant to be praise. But real nurses and doctors watching this will totally think it's a dig at them."
"You think it's not a dig? Man, give me a break."
"Just look around—teachers, students, doctors, drivers... these professions are getting roasted left and right."
The audience clapped politely, but inside they were all thinking the same thing:
What a load of crap.
Backstage, Kyle and Mia were dressed sharp and ready to go.
"I mean, seriously, what kind of content is that? If you wanna praise someone, do it realistically!"
"Exactly. Compared to that mess, our sketch is like a flower blooming on a pile of cow dung!"
"Keep it low-key. We're up soon—let's get in the right mindset."
They chatted casually until it was time to go on.
At home, a middle-aged man sat eagerly in front of his TV.
"Kyle and Mia! Finally, I've been waiting. Worth every one of those dozen votes I cast!"
"I still don't get what's so funny about Kyle's comedy. He's just the tallest among the shorties."
His daughter squeezed in next to him with a bag of chips.
Watching TV together like this hadn't happened in a long time—not just because the kids had grown up and were around less, but also because there hadn't been any truly funny shows worth watching.
Now, with a witty, no-nonsense show, sitting beside his family, the man felt pure happiness.
"Next up: Kyle and Mia with their sketch, 'Creative Excuses'—let's give them a big hand!"
Crowd erupts in applause
"Kyle, I love you!""Mia! Gorgeous as ever!!"
The cheers were thunderous, filled with pumped-up fans. Kyle and Mia stepped onto the stage.
"Just hearing the name 'Creative Excuses' already sounds savage—I'm so hyped!""Yep, sounds like it's gonna be sharp satire again. Please, I need something clever—I'm tired of being emotionally manipulated!""Did you see Matt's face? It's darker than a thundercloud! This is gonna be good."
The crowd whispered excitedly. Finally—something smart instead of emotional nonsense.
If you're gonna do emotional drama, fine—but at least use basic logic!
These recent shows had abandoned logic completely. More melodramatic than any soap opera.
The camera panned across Matt, who wasn't even faking applause.
He'd already coordinated with the director beforehand, planning to suppress Kyle's airtime.
But the director said as long as Kyle and Mia remained popular, everything had to be fair.
This isn't just defiance—this is a direct challenge to Matt's authority!
But Matt had no choice.
Fire the director? He didn't have that kind of power—too many levels above, too many boundaries crossed.
As for other tactics, he just didn't have the pull.
True influence isn't just about fame—it's being able to get things done across industries, across networks.
In the traditional opera world, sure, Matt still held sway. But outside of that?
If people cared about him, he was influential. If they didn't? He was nobody.
And the past few days had made that painfully clear.
Call in disciples? Useless.Push for "positive energy" content? Didn't work.Try using administrative power? Out of reach.
While Matt sat there brooding in silence, Nick and Lily were practically on the edge of their seats.
At the last production meeting, the director had said it loud and clear: the only thing that matters is whether it's funny. Nothing else.
Entertainment is full of social-savvy pros—everyone picked up on the director's vibe.
And in terms of pure comedy? No question—it was Kyle and Mia.
Even the title Creative Excuses screamed: "Brace yourself, this is gonna hit hard."
Come on, Kyle—show us what you've got!
Nick grinned, buzzing with excitement alongside the crowd.
Kyle walked confidently onto the stage, smiling.
"Hey, Mia, you know there's a saying…"
"Which one? There are tons of sayings!"
"'Unreasonable people rule the world!'"
"Oh, that one! Yeah—'Unreasonable people go anywhere, reasonable people can't take a single step.'"
"Right? Sounds simple, but—"
"Wait a sec! That's not how it goes!"
"What do you mean? 'Unreasonable people go anywhere, reasonable people can't take a single step.' That's it!"
"You flipped it! It's backwards!"
"Backwards?! You kidding me?"
"Hey, I went to school, okay? You can't just make stuff up."
"Ahhh yeah, right, the textbook version is 'reasonable people go anywhere.'"
"And the second part is 'unreasonable people get nowhere.'"
"Exactly!"
"Hold up… wait! You just switched the order again! You tricked me!"
"How's that wrong though?"
"The proper saying is 'Reason gets you far, nonsense gets you nowhere!'"
"Sure, that's how it goes on paper, but I totally disagree."
"Why?"
"Because if you're being unreasonable, but you make it look like you have a reason, you'll get far anyway!"
"Come on, we live in an educated society—people don't act like that anymore."
"Oh really? Then how come I heard you can get into grad school by stealing someone's earbuds? Isn't that unreasonable ruling the world?"
"PFFFT HAHAHA!!"
Nick cracked up, head tilted back, laughing so hard he wheezed.
Lily froze for a second, then burst out laughing too.
The setup was so casual, so chill—then boom, a punchline that destroyed the room!
Anyone who hung around on social media knew exactly what he meant.
"HA! Stealing earbuds? No wonder I didn't get into grad school—I didn't have Bluetooth ones!"
Lily was cracking up.
"What the heck—wanna get into grad school? Just swipe someone's earbuds? Hilarious!""Oh nooo, here we go again—our school's gonna go viral. Again.""They all use Bluetooth speakers now—nobody dares bring earbuds!""LMAO this grad school joke's about to go head-to-head with 'one person jumps off a building and the whole dorm gets accepted.'"
"Haha! The saying says one thing, but real life is the opposite. Kyle, you're savage!"
The crowd was in stitches. Faces twisted from laughing too hard.
Sure, people joked about these things online, maybe in private chats—but bringing it on a big stage?
Now that was inviting everyone to laugh together.
Just like people joking about football—it's all about the fun.
"Wait, daughter, what's this grad school earbud thing?""Oh, some student stole a classmate's earbuds. Barely got punished—and then got recommended for grad school.""Seriously? That actually happened?!""Dad, remember—art imitates life, but life is way more absurd."She pulled up the original Weibo post. Her dad looked—and burst out laughing."No way! That's nuts! This world's so messed up even I'm laughing—and I'm over 40!"
Meanwhile, back in a different college dorm—
"HAHAHA our school's trending again!""Forget earbuds—everyone's got Bluetooth speakers now!""Kyle's jokes hit hard."
"....."